Large appliances, e.g., water heaters, are particularly difficult to package to prevent damage during shipping and handling. Typically, large appliances use packaging assemblies that are bulky and take a lot of storage space. Further, the packaging assemblies are usually discarded after the appliances are delivered and cannot be reused. Thus, there is a need in the industry to provide a packaging assembly that is not bulky, saves storage space, is inexpensive and can be reused after delivery.